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Senator George Allen of Virginia said goodnight in the early hours, knowing that he might be asking for a recount in the morning. His Democratic opponent, Jim Webb, was up 2,000 or more votes – with nearly all precincts reporting, in unofficial returns. But let’s not forget the absentee ballots in this state, many of them military, that are being counted.

Virginia state law allows for a recount when a contest is this close, and this race certainly might qualify. And what a wild ride it’s been, from the beginning of the year when the Republican incumbent seemed to have presidential ambitions, to his uttering the word “macaca” this summer. From there, it went downhill, even as he and Mr. Webb battled for female votes in the state.
And we’ve called the Tennesse Senate race for Bob Corker, the former mayor of Chattanooga and Republican candidate, who ran a relatively low-key road campaign but a very tough ad campaign against Representative Harold Ford Jr.

At times during the summer and fall, this race- for the seat being vacated by the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist – seemed way too tight. Republicans were intent on holding onto this seat to maintain their Southern firewall against Democratic invasion.
A few weeks ago, a furor erupted when national Republicans sponsored an ad that used a white woman winking and cooing, which critics said played to racial prejudices among white voters. Mr. Corker’s numbers seemed to inch up a bit after that; but Mr. Ford also didn’t help matters by bus-storming a Corker event that made the congressman look intemperate and definitely not the type who would respect the comity of the Senate.

Much money was spent on this race; from national party committies, affiliated or not-so affiliated groups and others. For independent expenditures by those groups, it ranked third behind Missouri and Ohio, at $11.6 million.

The M States:
Maryland: Representative Ben Cardin, the Democratic candidate in the Maryland Senate race, won the seat, even though nearly everyone agreed that Lt. Gov. Michael Steele had the best, take-the-high-road advertisements on television.

Missouri and Montana are still out.

Other Senate races: Senator Lincoln Chafee, one of the endangered species known as a moderate Republican, lost his seat tonight in a race with Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. Mr. Chafee’s Rhode Island roots apparently weren’t deep enough – even with his family tree – to avoid the anti-incumbent moods and the anti-war sentiments that were wafting through many states.

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